For this year’s TEDGlobal, TEDx organizers were offered the chance to host a TEDxLive -- a gathering around a live webcast of the conference.

Among them was TEDxDubaiLive, who enjoyed TEDGlobal talks from Jamil Abu Wardeh and Naif Al-Mutawa, who both spoke at TEDxDubai. 

At Boom Chicago, a comedy club in Amsterdam, TEDxAmsterdamLive hosted independant programming during TEDGlobal breaks, with local speakers and performers including Pim Betist of Africa Unsigned and composer Merlijin Twaalfhoven.

At TEDxChennaiLive, talks were interspersed with conversation and -- when the power failed at TEDGlobal -- they showed Richard John’s TEDTalk on ‘8 Secrets of Success'.

I attended TEDxGothamLive, held at a law office in Midtown, New York.

The day I went, we watched Sessions 9 and 10 of the conference and were even treated to an impromptu performance from comedian Maz Jobrani, who had spoken the day before.

Watching the livecast of TEDGlobal in a group versus alone in your apartment is a completely different experience -- we laughed together with Herbert Watzge and were all left a little more enlightened by Sugata Mitra; people shouted out website urls during Sebastian Seung’s talk.

The energy of the group was so that at times it felt like we were actually at TEDGlobal, especially when we banded together to fix some technical difficulties, or when another attendee let me borrow his camera.

At the end of the session, TEDxGotham organizer Todd Gailan asked the group to contribute speaker ideas for their October 2010 event.

Attendees stayed after and spoke to each other in small groups -- each person found someone to connect with on a particular talk or idea that inspired them.

I found Chris Anderson’s talk -- where he noted that he is dreaming up ways to make it easier for the global TED community to respond to speakers and that "the future is many to many” -- especially relevant to the gathering.

TEDTalks have already spread the ideas presented at TED Conferences to a wider audience; TEDxLive gatherings not only spread these ideas in real time, but also offer the opportunity for spontaneous collaboration and participation between those watching.

To learn how you can host your own TEDxLive for the upcoming TEDWomen conference, visit the TEDx website here.